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Character Creation
Choose a Concept Pick a concept for your PC; Think of the secret lives that the people you work with might live. Does the old lady down the hall traffic with demons? Might your local librarian excel in keeping secrets and disseminating disinformation? Look for the ordinary, and expand to the extraordinary. Enter your character's true age, which might be very different from her appearance. Pick Your Virtue and Vice Your character’s Virtue and Vice determine the best and worst elements of her nature; If you role-play out your Virtue and Vice in the appropriate situations, you can regain Willpower. Your storyteller (ST) is likely to reward you with more experience points (XP), or similar bonuses for exceptionally dramatic portrayals. Virtues : Charity, Faith, Fortitude, Hope, Justice, Prudence, or Temperance. Vices : Envy, Gluttony, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, or Wrath. Pick Your Attributes Prioritize your Attributes: the primary category (e.g. Finesse) gets five free dots to spend amongst the three Attributes in it, the secondary gets four, and the tertiary three. The first dot in every Attribute is free , but to get the fifth dot in an Attribute costs two of your dots at character creation. Primary: 5 Secondary: 4 Tertiary: 3 Select Skills and Skill Specialties Prioritize your Skill categories (the first dots aren'’t free in Skills, unlike Attributes). The primary category gets 11 dots to spend in it, the secondary gets 7 and the tertiary gets 4. Then take three Skill Specialties (e.g. Fencing as a specialty of Weaponry, details on WoD p. 54) of your choice and write them below the appropriate category’s column. Skill Specialties add +1 to a challenge in which that particular Skill Specialty comes into play; more than one Skill Specialty can be taken per Skill, but you can't use more than one in a single challenge. You can’t start with any Skill above five. The fifth dot in any Skill costs 2 dots at character creation. Primary: 11 Secondary: 7 Tertiary: 4 Select Path and Order Select your Path and Order from the list below. You have to pick a Path, but you can simply decide that your Mage hasn'’t joined any Order yet, and is still making up his mind (or doesn’'t follow any specific ideology). In that case, you'’re one of the ‘Apostates’. Be aware that some of the Orders aren’'t too keen on such independents. It is however a great opportunity to be recruited in-game into one of the Order, if you’re interested in that type of role-play. Depending on Path, also add a free dot to the listed Attribute. Paths Acanthus : Enchanters: lucky, intuitive - Composure Mastigos : Warlocks: commanding, determined - Resolve Moros : Necromancers: steadfast, terrifying - Composure Obrimos : Theurgists: forceful, inspired - Resolve Thyrsus : Shamans: naturalistic, spiritual - Composure Orders Adamantine Arrow : The Ungula Draconis, the Talon of the Dragon: The soldiers of Awakened society, known for their expertise in combat magic. Guardians of the Veil : The Visus Draconis, the Eye of the Dragon: the protectors of Awakened society, feared for their skills in espionage and assassination. Mysterium : The Alae Draconis, the Wings of the Dragon: the researchers of Awakened society, searching for hidden lore in both rare tomes and forbidden tombs. Silver Ladder : The Vox Draconis, the Voice of the Dragon: the advisers of Awakened society, wishing to rebuild a unified community of mages under their leadership. Free Council : Existing outside the Atlantean mythos, these allies of the Diamond seek to modernize magic, free of the constraints and traditions of the ancient past. Apostates : The collective term for any Mage PC that is not a member of an Orders, whether a solitary practitioner or simply disinterested in joining a mystical society. Choose Arcana and Rotes If you declare membership of an Order, you may choose six dots of Arcana according to the following formula: Take your Path’'s two favored (Ruling) Arcana (as listed below) and then choose a third Arcana. Of these three Arcana, place two dots in one, two dots in another, and one dot in a third. You may then place a sixth dot in any Arcana, whether adding it to one of the three Arcana you know, or choosing a single dot in any of the other seven Arcana. Choose six dots of Rotes from the Arcana you have selected. You can select six one-dot Rotes, two three dot Rotes, or any other combination that adds up to six. Acanthus : Fate , Time Mastigos : Mind , Space Moros : Death , Matter Obrimos : Forces , Prime Thyrsus : Life , Spirit Spells Death : Ghosts, decay, & the Underworld Fate : Luck, chance, oaths & curses Forces : Fire, gravity, storm, & all other material energies Life : Plants, animals, humans, & other organic creatures Matter : Stone, metal, plastic, & all other inorganic objects Mind : Reading and controlling both thoughts and emotions Prime : Mana, illusions, enchantments, & other raw magic Space : Correspondences, teleportation, distances & scrying Spirit : Communication & control of spirits & the Shadow Time : Clairvoyance, divinations, & control of time’s flow Note Order Rote Specialties In addition to receiving the High Speech Merit for free, members of each Order obtain mystical knowledge that allows them to cast certain Rotes more efficiently when using specific Skills in their castings, which represents transcendental knowledge about the Mysteries: When one of these Skills are used in a Rote, the player gets a +1 bonus to his casting pool: Adamantine Arrow : Athletics, Intimidation, Medicine Guardians of the Veil : Investigation, Stealth, Subterfuge Mysterium : Investigation, Occult, Survival Silver Ladder : Expression, Persuasion, Subterfuge Free Council : Crafts, Persuasion, Science Select Merits Select 7 points worth of Merits (up to 6 of which can be spent on Gnosis 2 and 3). Venue Merits are listed by category with base dot cost. Prerequisites are also listed where applicable with a ‘pre’ followed by what is needed on the character before the Merit can be bought. Some Merits are ‘Creation Only’ (marked as ‘CO’ below), which means that unlike other Merits, they can only be bought with the seven Merit points during this stage of character creation. If a Merit is labeled ‘special’, you will need to talk to your Storyteller about details pertaining to taking it, e.g. who/what your Allies are and what they do. Merits that have multiple components have each component purchased as a separate Merit (Sanctum would be two separate five-point Merits, not a single ten-point Merit). For any Merits (listed here or in newer books) that have variable dot costs, the fifth costs two dots to purchase at character creation (see Chapter 5 of WoD for more information). Status can be 'Consilium Status' (how important you are in your local area) or 'Order Status' (what level of standing you have in your Order). You can have dots in neither, either, or both of these. You can't normally start with Order Status in more than one Order. The Hallow & Library Merits have Sanctum as a prerequisite. Mages that declare membership of an Order receive the High Speech Merit as a bonus without charge. Calculate Abilities Size : 5 Health : Stamina + Size Acting Speed: 5 for adult humans Willpower : Resolve +Composure Running Speed: Strength + Dexterity + Acting Speed Wisdom : 7 (may trade up to two points, see Storyteller for details) Initiative : Dexterity + Composure Defense: Dexterity or Wits , whichever is lower Category:Character Options